A twenty-seven-year-old man sought help to stop biting his nails. He said he had had the habit ever since he could remember. He was extraordinarily tense, and he said he did most of his

nail-biting when he was worried and on edge. He admitted that he was so tense that with little provocation he would flare up.

He did the exercises and when last seen about six weeks after his first visit claimed that he had mastered the habit, and as evidence showed me how his nails were beginning to grow normally.

Blushing-About two years ago an attractive nurse said she had been plagued with blushing for as long as she could remember. She often kept thinking about it and then she would blush. She blushed in the company of young men. She blushed in buses, and did not even like asking other nurses about patients on account of her blushing.

She learned the exercises, but I was not sure how much help she had gained until she came in a few weeks ago to ask advice about some other problem. When I asked her about the blushing she merely commented, “Oh, that’s all gone,” as if she had forgotten all about it.

It is interesting to note that some years previously I had seen a man with similar trouble about blushing. This was at the time before I had developed the idea of the patient doing the exercises himself. I treated this man with a number of sessions of hypnosis, and there was little improvement in his blushing.

*92\57\2*

There can be no doubt that the state and quality of your nutrition is directly related to the state and quality of your health. I don’t think there is any disagreement among the majority of nutritionists and health authorities on the importance of good, well-balanced, vitamin- and mineral-rich nutrition for the optimum of health and vitality. Vital nutrition is the major determining factor for the state of your health. The vitamins and minerals you eat—or don’t eat—can make a colossal difference in the way you look and feel. Nutritional deficiencies are generally considered to be contributing factors in so-called degenerative diseases, including arthritis.

So far so good, and everybody is in full accord: vital nutrition —vitamins, minerals, complete proteins, carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, trace elements, enzymes, etc.—is essential both for the maintenance of good health and the prevention of disease. The discord starts when we try to determine how we can obtain all these nesessary nutrients and guard ourselves against nutritional deficiencies.

The “official” thinking, represented by many governmental health organizations and conservative food researchers, is that you can get your vitamins “with knife and fork.” That is, if you eat a “well-balanced diet” you will be well nourished. They claim that vitamin and mineral supplements are a waste of money and absolutely unnecessary, except in cases determined by your doctor and prescribed by him. The vociferous champion of the food processing industry, Dr. Frederick Stare, Harvard University nutritionist, claims that we are the best-fed nation in the world, that ordinary foods available at any grocery store, including white bread, sugar, and processed and canned foods, will produce “just as good nutritional health as any and all health foods.” Moreover, he maintains that the only ones who benefit from vitamins and food supplements are the vitamin and food supplement manufacturers and retailers.

The second point of view, held by many of the world’s most prominent nutritionists, biochemists, and progressive medical researchers is that while under ideal conditions—100 per cent natural, poison-free foods and environment—we should not need any food supplements at all, but under present conditions, especially in the United States, food supplements are imperative if health and vitality are to be maintained.

Can you get your vitamins with a knife and fork, as many authorities today advise you? And isn’t this the most natural and sound way to assure proper nutrition?

Indeed it is! In principle, a well-chosen and well-balanced diet of nutritionally sound, unprocessed, natural, unadulterated foods (grown in undepleted, fertile soils without poisonous sprays) will give you all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes, and trace elements you need without any addition or food supplements. A hundred or even 50 years ago such advice would have been both sound and workable. Your grandparents drank pure, unpolluted water, breathed clear air without carbon monoxide and other pollutants, and ate wholesome foods which were organically grown on their own farm. They ate fresh fruits and vegetables from their own garden; cereals grown in a well-manured field; meat, eggs, and dairy products from their own healthy farm animals. Processed and refined foods were all but unknown. Candies, commercially produced soft drinks, and canned foods were luxuries which only the rich could afford. Whatever unhealthy foods or living habits they had were well counteracted and worked off by vigorous physical activity outdoors which farm life demanded of them.

The fruits and vegetables they ate had no residues of poisonous sprays and waxes, and they contained more vitamins than artificially grown produce of today. The eggs your grandparents ate were fertile eggs, produced by hens eating worms, bugs, grass, etc. in addition to the natural grains. Such eggs had much higher vitamin, mineral, and lecithin content than today’s eggs, produced in egg factories by chicks which never see the sunlight and eat chemicalized mash. The wheat from which your grandparents* bread was made contained a minimum of 18 plus percent protein, often as high as 24 per cent. Your “enriched bread” is made from wheat grown on depleted soils with chemical fertilizers, which has reduced its protein content to an average below 10 per cent!1 Not to mention the fact that over 40 vital nutritional elements have been removed from it, including vitamin E, and then “enriched” with four synthetic, biologically inferior drugs! Meat and dairy products today are packed with preservatives, DDT, hormones, and other chemicals and drugs which were unknown 100 years ago.

It is a well-known fact that due to vitamin, protein, and enzyme-destroying practices of the food producing and food processing industries our modem-day foods are nutritionally not the same as the natural foods which haven’t been over-processed or refined.

As you can see, what was considered to be a sound and ideal practice yesterday, cannot be realized today; at least not in this overcivilized country. What was yesterday’s law is today’s folly. Many Americans today are attempting to get their vitamins with a knife and fork, but they still fall short of optimum nutritional standards. The reason for this, of course, is that virtually all the foods you buy at your supermarket today are nutritionally inferior one way or the other. So it doesn’t matter how well you balance your meals, if you are a meat-eater, vegetarian, or health faddist, you still run a chance of malnutrition, because food processors and manufacturers have removed or destroyed many of the vital nutrients from the food you buy.

Perhaps it would be possible today to obtain all your vitamins and other nutritive elements with knife and fork if you were a very well-informed and enlightened nutritionist with a scientific medical and biochemical background. But for the average housewife it is quite impossible to orient herself among the glittering aisles of brightly colored plastic wraps and gaudy labels of modern supermarkets and make an intelligent choice of foods, nutritionally speaking.

Therefore, most people either can’t or don’t take the time and effort to eat a nutritionally balanced diet. They eat the “average American diet” loaded with refined carbohydrates, soft drinks, crackers, white bread, ice cream, cakes and pies, canned and frozen foods, processed sugared cereals, coffee and toast, TV dinners, and such. This atrocious diet of devitalized foods is the major reason why our health standards are among the lowest in the world, as health statistics show. Our mortality rate is steadily increasing and is higher than the rates in many so-called underdeveloped countries. To be exact, 88 nations of the world have a lower death rate than we have. The physical and mental health of our children is far below the record of European children, as was shown in recent comparable tests. A ten year study of American youngsters between the ages of 13 and 20, in which 2,536 boys and girls participated, has shown that almost half of them suffered from “nutritional nerves,” (which usually indicate lack of vitamin B-complex), insufficient protein in their diets, and serious- shortages of vitamins A, B, and C.3 Several surveys indicate that only about one-half of the school children in America get enough vitamin C in their diet. It is a well-established medical fact that an alarming percentage of our population suffers from nutritional deficiencies, notably of calcium and vitamin C.

Dr. Robert S Coodhart, president of the National Vitamin Foundation, at a recent (October, 1966) conference of the Foundation, attended by 30 of the nations leading nutrition scientists, said: “We know that such things as the determination of vitamin levels in tissue fluids, the taking of diet histories, and physical examinations for external signs of nutrient deficiencies are not sufficient, by themselves or in combination, to permit us to arrive at valid conclusions about the incidence and importance to health of degree of malnutrition, short of gross undernutrition or gross overnutrition.” Subclinical malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies are more common in the United States than is generally known. The U. S. Department of Agriculture findings indicate that in 48 per cent of U. S. households diets do not fully meet “normal” allowances for essential vitamins and other nutrients!

These bad nutritional patterns of empty calories should be changed and the American people should be educated in better eating habits. But this cannot be done overnight. People will continue to buy and eat worthless foods. Skillful, never-ending advertising by the powerful commercial interests of the food processing industry will see to that

Here’s where the food supplements come in. The prime purpose of food supplements is to fill in nutritional gaps left by faulty eating habits.

Food supplements return to your diet what food processors have removed or destroyed. Many vital nutritional elements, particularly enzymes and vitamins, are completely destroyed by modern food processing and refining methods.

It is a medically well-known fact that even minor deficiencies of one or more of the vital nutritive factors will result in disturbed chemistry in the system, lowered resistance to infections, and can cause various diseases.

Thus, food supplements are a nutritional insurance against disease. Well-chosen food supplements are an easy, practical, and inexpensive way to improve your deficient diet and assure optimum health for you and your family.

Another important reason for taking food supplements is that they will protect you from the harmful effects of poisonous additives and residues in your food, water, and air. Many vitamins possess antipoison properties, especially vitamin C. Vitamins C, B, and E will help to protect you against many insecticide residues, which you just can’t avoid. Bone meal will protect you from harmful effects of Strontium 90, which none of us can avoid getting into our systems these days. The toxic effects of smoking and drinking (both nicotine and alcohol are known vitamin antagonists) are modified by heavy doses of vitamins C and B. Desiccated liver tablets, wheat germ, and wheat germ oil will protect you and your heart from stress and increase your endurance. In this poisoned world of ours, where lethal poisons are lurking in all directions—in air, water, food, clothing, etc.—food supplements are virtually your only available protection against their harmful effects.

If the above is true for the average person, it is doubly true for one who is afflicted with arthritis. As I have shown before, faulty eating habits and nutritional deficiencies are the major environmental factors leading to an onset of arthritis. Therefore, the first step in a successful program of treatments should be a complete overhaul of nutritional habits. An improved diet of vital foods as outlined in this book, fortified with well-chosen food supplements, will supply your body with all the vitamins, proteins, minerals, enzymes, and trace elements needed for its healing and health-restoring processes.

*49\176\2*

Most people with frequent seizures are looked after at home by devoted parents or partners. Sometimes a fragile situation breaks down and it is clear that a person with epilepsy cannot cope at home. Obviously if it is believed that this is a purely temporary setback likely to be improved by modification of anti-epileptic medication, then the family doctor will arrange a short stay in a neurological unit or in a special centre for epilepsy. Occasionally, however, it is obvious that neither the domestic situation of the person with epilepsy, nor their epilepsy, is going to improve in the foreseeable future, and long-stay care has to be arranged. The precipitating factor is very often the illness or death of the last surviving supporting relative.

In the middle of the last century, an increasing social commitment to those less fortunate than the majority resulted in the establishment of ‘colonies’ for people with epilepsy. The general plan of such colonies in Europe was of a totally self-contained institution. During the day, the people with epilepsy would work in the open air, in arable and stock farming, and at night they would return to dormitories, or, in the more advanced colonies, to small houses in which some semblance of a family circle was maintained. Many people with severe epilepsy spent the greater part of their lives in such institutions. Unfortunately there is still a need for such long-term care. In the UK there are approximately 2000 people with epilepsy in the former colonies, now called centres for epilepsy, and perhaps another 3000 in other types of residential accommodation supported by local authorities.

An intriguing fact is that about one sixth of those in the epilepsy centres have rare

seizures—less often than once a year. Some of these epilepsies have, as it were, burnt themselves out, but the subject has been so long in the institution that they have no base or family circle to which they may return, and the centre is a much-loved home. The other explanation is that epilepsy, although a ‘required’ disorder for admission to the centres for epilepsy, may not be in itself a great problem—the major reasons for admission being associated impairment of intellect or major physical disability due to brain damage, of which epilepsy is only one symptom. By and large, those in special centres for epilepsy have what has been termed ‘epilepsy plus’—epilepsy plus some other major handicap.

The role of the former colonies has gradually changed over the years. First, the word colony, with its implications of dependency, has been dropped, and the name ‘centre for epilepsy’ has been adopted. Secondly, the centres have established much closer links with university departments of neurological sciences. Indeed much of the best research work in epilepsy in Europe emanates from the former colonies. Thirdly, the centres have taken a greater role in the assessment of patients with severe epilepsy, admitting them for neurological and occupational evaluation for a short period of a few weeks. Fourthly, they are more outward-looking in the employment of people with epilepsy. Sometimes the centre is used as a hostel to which people with epilepsy who can almost, but not quite, manage on their own can return at night.

All this activity does mean that the primary role for which the colonies were established—a sheltered residential home for those people with epilepsy unable to cope outside—is in danger of being submerged. We can tell when this is happening to a centre, because my letter requesting admission for a patient received a reply that the patient ‘would not benefit’ from residence in the centre. In a small proportion of cases, one has to accept that benefit is not likely to occur, and all that is wanted is a clean, quiet, and kind place to live.

*86\188\2*

Body odor is a common, distressing, and embarrassing problem that is not always easy to prevent, correspondence in the Western Journal of Medicine (146:367) reports.

In one case, an extremely foul body odor had suddenly developed and had persisted in spite of all attempts to control it with special soaps, extra bathing, and frequent changes of antiperspirant and deodorant.

On carefully reviewing this man’s routine, his doctor discovered that he had recently started using Fresh Start laundry detergent, and suggested that he try another one. The man did so and was pleased to find that his odor problem immediately went away. Furthermore, now that he understood the problem, he was able to explain why his body odor returned not long after he had put on clothing which had been laundered with Fresh Start.

Obviously, the odor was produced by some kind of reaction occurring between his skin chemistry and the detergent residue in his clothes. Others with stubborn cases of B.O. might also wish to try using another detergent brand.

*201\143\2*

Precautions

-    Sickle cell trait and sickle cell dig occur most often in those of African descent. Children of black parent other parents with a family history sickle cell disease should be tested before the age of one year.

-    A child with sickle cell disease may get frequent infections and illness Treat all infections immediately.

-    If a child with sickle cell disease r a high fever, call the doctor.

-    A child with the disease should ha frequent checkups.

-    A child with the disease may need special treatment before surgery î dental work.

-    No special treatment is needed if the child has sickle cell trait.

Sickle cell anaemia, also called sickle cell disease, is an inherited blood disease. It is caused by an abnormality in the hemoglobin, which is a form of protein that helps the red blood cells to carry oxygen through the bloodstream. The abnormal hemoglobin makes the red blood cells become rigid and sickle-shaped (hence the name hemoglobin S). The deformed blood cells have difficulty passing through the blood vessels. In addition, normal blood cells are constantly destroyed and replaced by the body, but these abnormal cells are destroyed more quickly than normal ones. The replacement process cannot keep up with the destruction of the sickled cells, and this causes recurrent anaemia.

Sickle cell trait and sickle cell disease are most common among people of African descent. The disease is also found in people from certain areas of India, Greece, Italy, and the Middle East.

A child may be born with sickle cell trait or sickle cell disease. A child with the trait has about 40 percent hemoglobin S and 60 percent normal hemoglobin. The child will function normally and will show no signs of the disease. However, the child carries the trait in his or her genes and either the trait or the disease may appear in the next generation. If the child marries someone who also has the trait, the chances of their child having the disease are greatly increased.

*188/84/5*

Additives are synthetic drugs which give color and flavor to food. These have practically replaced the safe natural colors and flavors used previously and their number today ranges around four thousand.

An additive should not be condemned without knowing its exact composition, function, and level of safety usage. In products produced by reputable firms, each additive serves a purpose and is carefully screened for its suitability and its safety under predictable patterns of consumption.

The symptoms that an additive may cause are hyperactivity and psychoneurotic behavior (such as headaches, hostility, slow learning, restlessness, and reduced attention span). All such symptoms have been attributed in the past to allergies, to wrong family upbringing, or to both. We know now that most of these symptoms are caused by additives contained in canned foods.

Besides psychoneurotic behavior, other allergy-similar reactions to food additives are rhinitis, nasal polyps, cough, laryngeal edema, hoarseness, and asthma; pruritis, writing on the skin, localized skin lesions, hives, angioedema; enlarged tongue, flatulence, and acid eructation; constipation; mouth chancres; pain in the joints with edema.

The treatment of symptoms caused by additives rests on psychotherapy, tranquilizers, and a diet called the salicylate-free diet. This diet was originally designed for the management of the aspirin-sensitive child. It has now been expanded to include all foods containing additives because flavors and colors which constitute 80 percent of all food additives are based on salicylates and tartrazine, which is a remote relative of aspirin.

The following are foods and products that should be avoided in the salicylate-free diet.

Foods Containing Natural Salicylates

almonds     nectarines

apples     oranges

apricots     peaches

blackberries     plums or prunes

cherries     raspberries

currants     strawberries

gooseberries     cucumbers and pickles

grapes or raisins     tomatoes

*12/99/5*

There are also a number of drug treatments your partner can be offered if problems are found with the quantity or quality of his semen.

hCG and hMG

These two drugs (the same ones as those mentioned above) can be used either separately or together for men who are deficient in LH and FSH, which in turn causes problems with sperm production. Men with a lack of GnRH can benefit from this treatment or the use of pulsing GnRH. It is interesting that many of these men (and women with a lack of GnRH) may have lost their sense of smell, which can also indicate a deficiency of zinc, a vital nutrient for fertility.

Bromocriptine

Men can also have high levels of prolactin which can cause loss of libido and impotence. This drug lowers prolactin, just as it does in women.

Clomiphene or tamoxifen

These are both anti-oestrogens which have been given to men where no hormone imbalances have been found but the sperm count is low. However, these drugs do not have product licenses for male infertility. And the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states that the use of these drugs has been shown to be ineffective in treating male infertility.

Testosterone

This is another hormone which is of questionable value in fertility treatment. It is often given where there is no hormone imbalance but there is a problem with the sperm count. Proper development of sperm is dependent on high levels of testosterone and the amount that would need to be taken orally to get the required effect could have a destructive effect on the liver. Also, giving testosterone creates a vicious circle by decreasing levels of FSH and LH, causing further problems with sperm production. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, reviewing the papers on the use of testosterone, felt that there was no evidence for effectiveness and even if it had a placebo effect the dangers of using it were too great.

Corticosteroids

These are sometimes used for men who have anti-sperm antibodies. But there is no real evidence for the effectiveness of this treatment. The side-effects can include weight gain, dyspepsia, facial flushing, bloating, skin rashes, irritability and insomnia.

Case History

Jennifer was 34 and had been trying to conceive for the ten years since she had been married, but her husband had been told that he had a low sperm count. Two varicoceles were diagnosed and operated on but this did not improve his sperm count. Four years previously he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer and one testicle had been removed, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Some sperm had been frozen before treatment. Jennifer had tried two ICSI treatments but they had been unsuccessful. She contacted me in August 1997 on her own, as the couple lived abroad and she was going back straight away. Her nutritional analysis showed very low levels of magnesium and high levels of copper (common after fertility treatment). I gave her a programme of supplements and suggested changes in her diet which she followed for the four months of the Preconception Plan. At the end of December the same year I received a fax from her telling me she was five weeks pregnant. She now has a lovely baby girl.

*90/73/5*

What is it?

A sexual assault, usually involving intercourse, on a woman against her will. It is an increasingly common crime in large cities everywhere and in the US it is at epidemic proportions. Any figures as to exactly how often it happens are purely speculative because experts in the field estimate that between 75 and 90 per cent of all rapes go unreported. Most rapes occur at the hands of someone known to the woman and the assault itself often occurs in circumstances which make establishing that the woman really was unwilling very difficult. For example, the claim of a woman that she was raped when hitchhiking alone may be countered by a claim by the car driver that she led him on. A woman may lead a man on sexually and then think better of it before intercourse has taken place-her change of heart does not always get through to the man.

Unfortunately, many rape victims have further unpleasant experiences after the rape itself in the hands of the police: intensive, often sceptical, questioning, disbelief, humiliating gynecological examinations, and so on. For these, and many other reasons, most women do not choose to pursue the charge of rape to the bitter end.

What causes it?

• Most rapists are immature, often violent in other ways and dislike women in general. They have often been intimidated or humiliated by women. Some can only become sexually aroused if the sex act is violent and can’t enjoy or even have sex with a compliant woman.

• Alcohol and rape often go together-partly because an immature man such as this may only be able to bring himself to do anything at all sexually when fortified with alcohol. A US study found that half of all convicted rapists had taken alcohol before committing the crime and that 35 per cent of them were actual alcoholics.

Prevention

• Keep away from lonely areas, especially at night. Go with someone else or wait until someone else comes by and walk a little behind them.

• Avoid areas where there are known to be street gangs.

• Take taxis late at night if at all possible.

• If you think someone is following you run into the middle of the road and stop a car.

• Never get into your parked car at night without first looking in the back seat.

• Park under a light at night.

• Put locks on your doors and windows at home. Never open the front door without using a safety chain.

• Always ask to see the identity cards of workers who come to the house unless you know them.

• If attacked, scream-this can immediately put off many (but not all) rapists. If he does not desist, pull your knee up into his groin and dig him in the eyes with your fingers.

• If the rapist is armed take it quietly and don’t do anything heroic-a combination of a weapon and a few drinks can be lethal. Once you have decided on this passive role talk to your attacker. Some rapists, once they have the realization forced on them that their victim is a person, can’t go any further and run away. Many women have talked a rapist out of the attack at this stage but it may be difficult to remain calm enough for this.

Be careful not to fuel your attacker’s ardor by mentioning the suffering he is causing you-this will usually make matters worse. Try to memorize things about him-his speech, clothes, appearance, and so on-so that you can describe him to the police. If he rapes you act as lifeless as possible and certainly don’t show any emotions or this could make him more violent.

• If you feel that someone you know is likely to rape you contact a local rape crisis centre to discuss it and get their advice. The address can be found in the telephone book. They are also very helpful when it comes to coping with the aftermath of a rape whether or not you report it to the police. If you are raped, contact a centre as soon as you possibly can after the rape occurs.

*208/72/5*

As a result of the tests carried out your doctor will advise you 3 to the best course for a desired pregnancy.

If all is normal with your partner’s semen analysis it may ¹ suggested that you are failing to ovulate and that a course of fertility drugs such as Clomiphene (Clomid) be taken to induce or increase egg production.

You will be told to start taking Clomid on either day 2 or day 5 (depending on the length of your cycle).

If a pregnancy still has not occurred after several months you may be advised to try a combination of Clomid with ultrasound scans and injections of HCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin)

The Clomid will encourage the production of an egg(s), the ultrasound scan will determine its maturity and the HCG injection will ensure it is released into the fallopian tube within 36 hours. You will be told to coincide intercourse during that 36 hours.

If these treatments are not successful you will need to consider your options. At this stage the options may include deciding to have no further treatment or to investigate your suitability for IVF (in vitro fertilisation) or GIFT (gamete intra fallopian transfer). However, before embarking on either of these programmes it should be noted that the success rates for full term pregnancies is 10% and 20% for IVF and GIFT respectively.

Maria’s story

As I sat and listened to his words my whole life flashed before me. My only ambitions in life were to get a job, get married and have children. I had achieved the first two ambitions but the third one had caused me great pain. Now as my doctor’s words echoed inside my head it seemed that it would be one goal that I would not reach. His voice came as if in a nightmare.

How could he say that I should have a complete hysterectomy?

My doctor’s words sounded so insensitive and heartless. After being through so much with him it now sounded like he just wanted to wash his hands of me. His face normally was pleasant but now it reminded me of a Dr Jekyil and Mr Hyde’s face. His good looks and charm had disappeared and were replaced by callousness.

As the tears blurred my vision, my body started trembling. Anger, resentment and despair overpowered my thoughts. I wanted to shout at him, abuse him, and scream that it was unfair.

After all that I had been through. The appointments accounted for hours spent waiting, sitting on uncomfortable chairs, reading magazines, looking at the clock and watching its hands move slowly, or staring at the uninspiring paintings on the walls. Then there were the tests, treatments and operations, all of which had been in vain, both mentally and physically.

I kept waiting for my husband to say something. He had always been a great support to me and now when I needed his support the most he was unable to help me.

The doctor was silent. I realized that this would be the last time that I would see him. There would be no more four hour trips travelling to Melbourne to his clinic. No more hours spent huddled with his other patients in the diminutive waiting room.

I was amazed at how quickly his attitude had changed.

He had always been so understanding and hopeful. I guess in retrospect I had intrinsically entrusted him to solve my problem.

Seeing him in a different light I noticed how negative his attitude was. I stared at his masked face and words failed me. It appeared that I had been down all the possible avenues and there would never be any children now.

There was not the usual eye contact or friendly goodbye as we parted. Walking past his receptionist’s desk I remember thinking how I would not be sorry to see the last of her. She had always been so moody and unhelpful. I paused for one moment as the next couple passed by in the corridor on their way to see the doctor. What future lies in store for them? Would they experience the same traumas and ordeals that we had – only to be left with heartbreak at the end?

The lift took longer than usual to reach the ground floor. I walked with my husband out of the building. We still had not spoken a word to each other. When we reached the footpath he put his arm around me and gave me a gentle hug which told me that he too was hurting inside.

Later, after accepting a life without children, we took a good look at our lives and reassessed our priorities; it was a painful process and required courage. We both needed a lot of support and luckily received it from friends and family – and each other.

*79/41/5*

The role of women in society is changing very quickly and sexual attitudes have changed in parallel with this over the last thirty years. Earlier sexual experience results in more babies born to young girls which in turn increases the statistics for still-birth, prematurity and ‘poor quality’ births. Low-birth-weight babies are two to three times more likely to be born to such youngsters. The results of sexual promiscuity, with more than half of all married people admitting to having had an extramarital affair, and the considerable rise in premarital sexual activity have resulted in more VD, more cervical cancer and more unwanted pregnancies. At the most dramatic end of the scale AIDS kills hundreds of people a year in the West and genital herpes causes substantial sexual disability among millions.

About a third of all pregnancies in the UK have been calculated to be ‘unwanted’-at least at the time of conception. Young girls who get pregnant have a 20-50 per cent increased chance of having a low-birth-weight baby, which in turn can be associated with an increased mortality rate among the babies.

*69/72/5*